a galaxy far, far away
by esmeaplatt
Summary: Young Kate Beckett beamed at the camera, her dark hair twisted into two braids and secured on the back of her head just as Princess Leia's had been in Cloud City.


**a galaxy far, far away**

 **AN:** Back at it again with a Castle fanfic because Castle owns my ass and every time I tell myself I'm not writing another one, I get 8 million new ideas. And, its a Halloween fic. In June.

* * *

"Here is it." Jim said, sitting down beside Castle on the sofa with a thick, purple photo album in his hands. "We looked at the blue one last time, right?"

Castle nodded, smiling as he took the album from his father-in-law. "Yeah, ages four to six, I think."

"This is the next one, then. Katie from ages seven to ten."

Both men smiled as Castle opened it up to the first page. Lately, since Beckett had become Captain of the twelfth, they were able to make plans more often. She was able to give out orders and leave for the night- something she didn't do often, but it was nice that it was now an option. With her new Captain benefits, they decided they were going to make an effort to spend more time with her father. They did so with monthly dinners. During their first dinner, Jim had taken it upon himself to pull out the boxes of photo albums and turn the evening into Embarrass Kate Night.

Since that first dinner, they'd gone through an album each month.

Kate rolled her eyes as she sat down on the other side of her husband. "Dad, I can't believe you and mom took this many pictures. How many of these albums do you have?"

"A new one for every two years or so...until you were about sixteen and you wouldn't let us take as many. Big events like your high school graduation and moving into your dorm at school have their own albums."

She smiled a little, propping her elbow onto her knee to rest her chin in her hand. "Of course they do."

"Is that a _Muppet Babies_ shirt?" Castle teased, looking up from the album and smiling at her.

"Katie loved that show." Jim said, answering his question. "When McDonald's had those toys in their happy meals, Katie's grandma drove around to a bunch of different locations to try to get all of them for her."

Kate leaned over slightly to look down at the picture of her past self. She was seven, maybe eight years old. Her long, messy hair was separated into two braided pigtails that hung down over her shoulders, over a bright yellow _Muppet Babies_ t-shirt that she remembered adoring. She was all crooked teeth and knobby knees, almost to that awkward stage but not quite there yet.

Castle laughed. "I can't believe Kate Beckett watched the _Muppet Babies_."

"I was an actual child, Castle. Not all of us were teenagers in 1988."

"You don't have to remind everyone that I'm so much older than you."

Kate laughed this time, watching as Rick huffed softly and turned the page.

They went through page after page of the album, the couple listening as Jim spoke about each photo. Kate offered her own memories too leading to all three sharing fond memories they had of the late 80's.

As they neared the end of the album, Castle gasped at one of the pictures. He carefully pulled the film back and picked the picture up from the book. "Kate, oh my god, is this what I think it is?"

"Me in a Halloween costume? Yeah, it is."

Castle turned, holding the picture up in front of her. "This isn't just any old costume. This is a Princess Leia costume."

"So?" She pushed his hand down to get the photo out of her face so that she could look at him. "You know I like Star Wars."

Castle smiled down at the picture. "This is amazing." Young Kate beamed at the camera, her dark hair twisted into two braids and secured on the back of her head just as the Princess' had been in Cloud City. "Interesting costume choice. What made you pick this one over the space buns?"

Kate shrugged. "That's what everyone did. And that Bespin outfit was always my favorite."

"Mine too. Favorite movie and outfit." He smiled, looking up from the photo.

"Really? I would have thought you'd be a _Return of the Jedi_ type of guy."

"Because of the Ewoks?"

She shook her head. "Golden bikini."

Castle wrinkled his nose. "Nothing sexy about a woman being enslaved, Beckett."

She smiled at him, shaking her head slightly as her attention went back to the photo. "I refused to get my hair cut all year long just for this costume."

"And then after the last movie came out you fought us every time we wanted to take you to get it trimmed." Jim added, pointing out photos of his daughter. He looked up from the album after a moment when he noticed his son-in-law's silence. Rick was still studying the Halloween photo. "You can keep that one."

Castle looked up from the photo. "Are you sure?"

"I've got copies. You keep that one." Jim assured him.

With a smile, Castle shifted to pull his wallet from his pocket. He tucked the photo safely inside before turning his attention back to the photo album.

.

* * *

Castle closed the door of the loft behind them as Kate hung her coat in the closet. She stepped out of her shoes and took his coat from him, hanging it beside hers. Castle brushed past her, heading for the staircase.

"Where are you going?"

"I need to get something from the closet."

Kate walked into the kitchen as he rushed up the stairs. She pulled two wine glasses from the cabinet and poured them each a glass. After sitting the bottle aside, she carried their glasses into the living room. She left Castle's on the coffee table as she sat down, settling back against the cushions. She took a sip of her wine and closed her eyes, fighting back a yawn.

The sound of a small box being dropped onto the table startled her slightly. Kate opened her eyes just as Castle sat down beside her, smiling that goofy, excited smile that made her heart skip a beat but also made her to fight off the urge to roll her eyes.

"Find whatever you were looking for?" She asked, leaning forward to sit her wine on the table beside his.

Castle grabbed the box and sat it in his lap, opening it up and carefully riffling through its contents. "Yeah. This old box of pictures. I'm trying to find a certain one, though..." He trailed off, his attention focused on finding it.

"Baby pictures? Let me see." Kate snagged the box from his lap, smiling as she settled it on her legs. His photos weren't quite as organized as Kate's were. She pulled out the picture on top, gasping softly. "Castle, is this you?" The picture was of a newborn baby, a hospital photo taken on the day of the baby's birth. The baby's eyes were closed as he cried, his little face red and scrunched up.

Castle nodded. "Yeah, that's me. My mother said they couldn't get a picture without me crying."

"I always had a feeling that you'd been a difficult baby." She teased.

"If you ask mother, she'll talk about it for hours."

Kate sat the photo aside, resting it far enough away from her on the couch to make sure she didn't accidentally bend it. "Let's hope any children we may have in the future acts like me, then. At least as an infant."

"I hope she looks like you too."

"She?"

"Oh, yeah. We're having a girl first."

"And how do you know that?" Kate asked, quirking an eyebrow at her husband.

"Father's intuition."

She rolled her eyes, making him laugh as she reached into the box and pulled the next photo out.

"Well, girl or boy, I'd want them to have your eyes." Kate said, nudging his shoulder with hers and holding the photo so they both could see.

Rick was a toddler in this one, sitting on the floor surrounded by cereal he'd spilled and blocks from a tower he'd built and then knocked down.

"I like your eyes." Castle told her. He took the picture, flipping it over to read the date on the back. "I was three in this."

Kate chuckled softly. "You have the same hair."

"You don't mess with perfection."

She laughed again. "You didn't change it at all?"

"Not all of us change our hairstyles like outfits, Beckett."

Ignoring his comment, she shook her head and reached over to take the photo back from him. She smiled a the little boy in the photo and then laid it back in the box.

"Oh, here it is!" Castle exclaimed. He pulled the photo from the box and then shifted to the side to pull his wallet from his back pocket. He opened it up and pulled the photo that Jim had given him. He held the pictures side by side, grinning.

"What are you doing?" She asked. "Let me see."

He held the photos for her to see, keeping them side by side. Her eyes wandered from the one of herself that she'd seen earlier that night to the one he'd found of himself.

"Oh my god, Castle, is that a-"

"Han Solo costume?" He answered excitedly. "Yes, it is!"

Kate smiled brightly and took the photo. The little boy smiled at the camera, his little hands clutching his candy bucket and fake blaster in excitement. He was sporting a white long sleeved shirt and dark blue vest paired with Solo's signature blood stripe pants. "Look at you, babe. You look so excited!"

"Oh, I was. I'd spent months planning that costume. I sewed the blood stripes onto the pants myself."

She looked closer at the work he'd done on his pants. "You did? How old were you in this?"

"Ten."

"And you could sew?"

"Yeah, some of the people working in the wardrobe department of the theater mother was performing at taught me."

"That's so cute."

He held the photo of herself up next to his. "It was fate."

"Fate, huh? Are you sure it's not that we're both nerds?"

"We are. But this is still fate." Castle told her. "You're the Leia to my Han."

Kate looked at her incredibly cheesy, beaming husband and shook her head a little, smiling.

"Can we recreate these costumes for Halloween this year?"

Her smile fell. "No."

"Please?"

"No." Kate told him firmly.

"Fine." Castle grumbled. He sat the box of photos aside and pulled his phone from his pocket.

She gave her husband a knowing look. "You're looking for costumes online, aren't you?"

"We're going to look so cool!"

Kate sighed, picking up her glass and taking a drink of her wine. "Whatever, flyboy."

Castle smiled excitedly and kissed her cheek. "I knew you'd come around, Your Highness."

* * *

 **AN** :  
me: would kate beckett really call castle "flyboy" like leia called han?  
me: *remembers the nebula nine episode* she absolutely would call castle "flyboy


End file.
